Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



B. F. J OSLYN.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

Patehted June- 24, 1862.

'Wijnnax N4 PETERS, FHOTWLITHOGRAPHER. WASNINGTO UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcE.

BENJAMIN F. JOSLYN, OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT lN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,688, dated June 24, 1862.

To all whom zit may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. JosLYN,

of Stonington, New London county, Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in the breech loading fire-arm for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to me on the 8th day of October, 1861; and my improvement consists in a curved wedgeformed projection combined with and arranged on the movable breech of the said firearm, substantially as described hereinafter, so that the metallic cartridge may be partly withdrawn from the barrel during the act of throwing back the movable breech.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure 1 is a side view of sufficient of the firearm to illustrate my improvement; and Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 1 2, looking toward the rear of the barrel.

A represents a portion of the barrel, and B the movable breech, of the fire-arm for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 8th day of October, 1861, a being a collar at the rear end ofthe barrel, and C a portion of the projection or tongue which is secured to the stock. The movable breech is hinged to lugs on the side of the barrel, and is so constructed that when depressed over the barrel it partially incloses the collar a, fits in the recess of the tongue 0, and covers or nearly covers the flanged end of the meta lic cartridge D, all of which is so fully described in my aforesaid patent that further description here is unnecessary. The barrel terminates at the rear in a projection. e, of the form of the frustum of a cone, and against this projection bears the inside of the flange of the metallic cartridge D. On the breech B is a curved projection, a, which is straight on one side and inclined on the other, as seen in Fig. 1, and near this projection an inclined plane, y, is formed in the breech. The projection 00 is so formed and so situated that when the breech is thrown back to its farthest limit, as seen in Fig. 2, thereby exposing the bore of the barrel, the cartridge inserted into the latter will bear against the inclined side near the eX- treme point of the projection, the cartridge not being yet pushed home to its proper position. As the breech is being depressed over the barrel, however, the inclined side of the projection 90 recedes from the collar of the cartridge, which is acted on by the inclined plane y, the latter pushing the cartridge into the bore of the barrel as the projection recedes, so that when the breech is depressed to its proper position the inclined plane has forced the collar of the cartridge against the conical projection e, a portion of the wedgeformed projection 50 still remaining in front of the collar. After the discharge of the load, and when it becomes necessary to withdraw the spent cartridge, which has become expanded and tightened in the bore, the breech is raised, and the inclined side of the projection a, bearing against the collar of the cartridge, forces the latter out as the inclined plane y recedes, so that by the time the breech has been thrown back to its farthest extent from the barrel the cartridge will be so far withdrawn from the barrel as to allow for its ready extraction by the finger and thumb.

I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent as an improvement in the breech-loading fire-arm for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 8th day of 

